1895.] ON SEVEBAf. RARE PAL^ARCTIC BIRDS. 31 1 



4. Notes on several rare Palisarctic Birds. 

 By H. E. Dresser, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



[Received April 2, 1895.] 



Some time ago Professor Menzbier of Moscow forwarded to me 

 the type of his Gecinus Jlavirostris to compare with Mr. Hargitt's 

 type of G. gorii. This, on comparison, Mr. Hargitt found to be 

 conspecific with his species, so that his name of gorii becomes a 

 synonym of G. jlavirostris. He then told me that he was very 

 desirous to examine a specimen of Dr. Eadde's Picus minor, var. 

 quadrifasciatus (Orn. Cauc. p. 315, pi. xix. fig. 5), which he thought 

 would probably prove to be a good species, and which he had 

 included in the Cat. B. Brit.tMus. (xviii. p. 256), as such, under 

 the name Dendrocopus quadnjasciatus (Eadde). I therefore wrote 

 to my friend Dr. G. Eadde, who at once most courteously forwarded 

 to me one of his type specimens, which I now exhibit. Directly I 

 received it I wrote to Mr. Hargitt to arrange a meeting so that we 

 could compare it together, and received a reply from Miss Hargitt 

 to say that her brother was ill and confined to his bed. From this, 

 imfortunately, he never again rose, and we all have to mourn the 

 loss of an excellent ornithologist and certainly our best authority 

 on the Woodpeckers. 



Owing to Mr. Hargitt's death I have had to compare the speci- 

 men in question myself, and, as will be seen, it has, as stated by 

 Dr. Eadde, only four white transverse bands on the wing, instead 

 of five as is usually the case in P. minor ; but on the one wing the 

 fifth bar is present though only slightly developed. I have here 

 several specimens of P. minor from Northern Europe for comparison, 

 and two of these have, as will be seen, only four bars on one wing 

 and five on the other. Hence it would appear that P. quadrifasdat-us 

 is only a variety of Picus minor, with which it agrees closely in 

 every other respect except that it is somewhat smaller in size, 

 measuring culmen 0'61 inch, wdng 3*5, tail 2-05, and tarsus 0-6. The 

 underparts are also somewhat brown in tinge, but not browner 

 than in several other North-European specimens of P. minor. 



Besides the specimen of P. quadrifasciatus, Dr. Eadde sent his 

 type specimen of Lanius minor, var. ohscurior (Orn. Cauc. p. 282, 

 pi. xviii. fig. 2), which I also exhibit, together with several specimens 

 of L. minor from Southern Europe. As will be seen. Dr. Eadde's 

 specimen differs only in being rather duller in tone of colour, and 

 is, as suggested also by Dr. Eadde, merely an individual variety of 

 L. minor. 



The Pied Flycatcher of the Caucasus, however, of which I have 

 received several specimens, two of which I now exhibit, is a good 

 species, differing both from Muscicapa atricapilla and M. collaris in 

 having a semicollar and in having much more white on the tail than 

 in either of those species. It was described and figured by Mr. E. F, 

 von Homeyer under the name of Muscicapa semitorquata (Zeitschr. 

 d. gesammt. Orn. 1.885, p. 185, pi. x.). Mr. Homeyer had before 



